Meet Me in St. Louis (& Idol Worship)

That's right, I'm blogging in St. Louis. I'm here for a very special event; my father is marrying a wonderful woman named Lynn on Saturday. Last summer when Corrie and I were married, dad was my best man, and this time around, I am his! It's a special thing to get to be best man in your own father's wedding. Today, I will get to meet my sister and two brothers first time: Cassie (9), Devon (6) and Clay (5). I hear they are quite a handful, in the best sense! It's been a wonderful visit so far. I've had a chance to get some good reading done in "Inside Out," which I'll review shortly in "the Office," and even had the chance to smoke a cigar late last night with Father on the campus of Concordia Lutheran Seminary, just under the towering statue of Martin Luther, who looks as defiant as ever. I don't know if my face could be replicated well in statue-form... it's just so unique, and my nose is so pointy. I'll be sure to post pictures in the gallery when I get back, and maybe some thoughts on why I never want a religious movement named after me.

It's interesting to me on another level that I arrived in St. Louis on the night when the most watched television program in the nation crowned Carrie Underwood - who originally auditioned for the show in St. Louis - this season's "American Idol." I logged on to msnbc.com earlier today, to find that the story was the 2nd top headline, narrowly beat out by reports that Al-Zarqawi might be seriously wounded or dead. This is not big surprise; an estimated 29 million viewers tuned-in for this year's final episode, up almost a million viewers from last season.

Carrie's most winsome quality, the author notes, was that she was a small-town, wholesome kind of girl. Not voting for her would be like "booing ice cream and apple pie." In other words, it was her innocence that made her seem authentic, if not topped-off by her bambi eyes, soaring vocals, and blonde curls. Carrie has now rocketed from small-town to downtown, and the nation (or at least the 15 million or so that watched and voted for her) is eating out of her farm-handling hands.

Honestly, I didn't really watch the show, and even more honestly, it wasn't directly out of some deep-seated conviction not to. My wife loves it, and so do most of her friends, and I definitely appreciate that there is some amazing vocal talent to go through the contest (and unlike many guys, I actually love vocal performances of just about any type, having been raised in a family of very musically-oriented folks). Nope, by all standards, the show is probably some of the better quality television on these days, and I can be grateful for that.

But I will leave with one thought: what I appreciate about the show is the fact that it doesn't claim to be anything other than exactly what it is. "American Idol." They're out to create a star. They are out to make a no-name, small-town girl with real talent (and probably a great heart) a marketable, profitable, hero-for-the-masses. There will always be something in us, rightfully placed, that looks for heroes, that triumphs in the success of a nobody who has just become a somebody, and I'm sure the producers knew this when they created the show.

I'm not here to make a big deal out of it, but if I am honest with myself, the title does give me pause whenever I hear it. It makes me reflect on what it is inside of us that is drawn to a nobody becoming a somebody. As I sat with my cigar last night, overlooking the beautiful stone buildings of the LUTHERan seminary, I couldn't help but think of what we do to create our "idols," how we come to revere them - even worship them. It's not the show's fault, and it certainly isn't the first or last time we'll find something to set our hope on and devote our attention to. I don't watch the show, but I certainly have my own idols that sometimes outshine the one Headline that should have all my attention. And that makes me... well, it makes me pause, and look inward. The dream that is in us, the desire to know that we are a nobody that can be a Somebody... that is a God-placed desire. But it can only be a God-fulfilled desire.

I really do wish Carrie the best, but it's ironic to me that the very innocence that drew people to Carrie will probably be the first thing to change now that she is an American Idol. We make idols, and we break them when they fail us. Here's hoping we all find the One who deserves our attention, who deserves our admiration, and above all, who deserves our idol worship.